Chapter 1 - History of Libyan Oil Exploration and Production

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the history of fledgling Libyan Oil Industry. Italian invasion of Egypt took a heavy toll on Libya. Cyrenaica, which had been the site of some of the fiercest fighting, was largely destroyed, the economy was in ruins, and the population totally impoverished. However, in December 1951 when Libya was established as a federal constitutional monarchy and within two years of independence a Minerals Law was enacted which permitted the allocation of preliminary prospecting permits to foreign oil companies. Eleven major international companies obtained permits including Esso, Shell, BP and CFP. The country was divided into four petroleum zones with each zone carrying different rental charges and work commitments. By the end of 1958 in west Libya several small oil and gas accumulations had been found in Palaeozoic clastic reservoirs and it became apparent that the major commercial oil accumulations were being found in the Sirt Basin while the large structures mapped in Cyrenaica had proved disappointing oil production results. The discovery which changed the face of the Libyan oil industry was Cl-6 well located on an anomaly on the Zaltan Platform which proved to be a Palaeocene carbonate complex with excellent reservoirs and a 105m oil column. Subsequent appraisal showed that the discovery was a giant field with reserves of 2.2 billion barrels.